Exploring Gender and Diaspora Investment Among Diaspora Women in the UK

Abstract

Although the transnational literature on gender, diaspora direct investment and remittances has burgeoned, largely overlooked in this mainstream literature are the ‘behind the scenes’ acts of diaspora women who, apart from their own economic gain, remit to help fund businesses of extended family members in the Country of Origin (COO). In this chapter, we draw on five women’s narratives of their lived experiences of migration to the UK and consequent investment activities in the COO. In so doing, we highlight not only the huge investments that women make in other people’s businesses, but how the act of investing in other people in itself empowers them to search for new and challenging business opportunities in the COO. We conclude by highlighting areas for further research.

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